Top 4 High Resolution Portable Music Players in India

Are you looking for high-resolution music players in India? Do you wish to know the best hi-res portable music players available online? Should you go for FiiO music players or Sony music players or some other brand? Read further about the features and pricing of top portable music players that you can buy in India.

A search on Google will help you list down several high-resolution music players. And the first thing you would identify is the considerable higher pricing of such hi-res audio players in comparison to the normal music players that you have used or seen before. So, what is so special about high-resolution music players?

Before you read further, do remember that such music players are meant for ardent fans of music who can appreciate the details in the sound. If you are someone who does not know the difference between an MP3 and lossless audio formats, then, probably the hi-res audio players are not meant for you.

In this article, we shall understand the importance of high-resolution audio and have a glance at some of the best portable high-resolution music players available online in India. The list majorly comprises of FiiO music players, Pono audio player, and Sony music player.

What is high-resolution Audio?

There is a myth that high-resolution audio is equivalent to lossless audio. But, it is not true. When you generally compress any audio file (say ripping a CD to mp3 format), the size of the file reduces, but you also lose some richness of the original sound recorded. And lossless audio is one that retains the original source audio quality and does not undergo any such 'lossy' compression process.

In other words, lossless music is supposed to be extremely identical to the original CD-DA audio when you rip a CD to any lossless format like FLAC, WAV, APE, and others. At the same time, high-resolution audio is expected to be slightly better than CD-DA audio, and hence even better than any lossless music format. This is possible because hi-res music has different audio bit depths as well as sampling rates.

In simple words, hi-res audio is one that is almost 'perfect' in terms of quality and sounds just like the music that was recorded in the recording studio. The best high-resolution standard is having a sampling frequency of 192 kHz for 24-bit audio depth. However, hi-res music files can use sampling rates of 96 kHz (and sometimes even 88.2 kHz or 176.4 kHz) at 24-bit. Here, the sampling rate (or frequency) indicates the number of times samples are recorded per second while the analog sound waves are being converted to digital.

Best 5 Portable high-resolution Music Players Online

FiiO X5 3rd Gen Hi-Res Music Player

The X5 3rd gen lossless playback portable music player is one of the best high-resolution audio players available online. This FiiO Android-based player comprises of a quad-core RK3188 processor, 1GB of RAM, 32GB built-in storage, 2 operating modes (Pure Music mode and Android mode), 2 charging modes, and AKM AK4490EN DAC chips. The 32-bit DAC chips are present for each channel and support all PCM as well as DSD formats. The FiiO X5 device makes use of two separate crystal oscillators for all sampling rates, to ensure reduced jitter, stable operation, improved clock accuracy and literally no sampling rate conversion artifacts.

It comprises of two headphone outputs - single ended as well as balanced. You will be pleasantly surprised to know that this FiiO hi-res music player has the potential to store around 1,30,000 songs, equivalent to 544GB of music - thanks to its built-in storage capacity of 32GB and two micro SD card slots, with each supporting 256GB cards. FiiO X5 3rd gen player consists of a 3.8V 3400 mAh battery that allows up to 10 hours of playtime. The good part is that when this music player runs out of battery, you can charge it to full in just 1.5 hours, at a maximum current rate of 1.2C. The X5 device is available in two colors - black and titanium.

You can get access to such a plethora of features by buying this FiiO X5 3rd gen music player online from the FiiO India website, and get the best deal (approximately INR 27,299). Once you start using the device, you will realize that the high price is worth it for the quality of sound and features on offer.

FiiO X1 2nd Gen high-resolution Audio Player

If you are someone who does not wish to spend a big amount and still enjoy lossless high-resolution music, then, FiiO has something extremely affordable for you. The FiiO X1 2nd gen hi-res music player is available online on FiiO India store in three color variants - black, silver and rose gold.

The touch wheel on X1 2nd gen has been improved significantly (as compared to the first version) and provides better anti-interference and higher sensitivity. It has two-way transmission capability that makes it possible to receive Bluetooth signal even while sending a Bluetooth signal. This FiiO music player gets the higher signal to noise ratio and fulfills balanced line output function with its high-quality DAC chip, which is CM5242 (from Texas Instruments).

It has a deep sleep standby feature that allows you to keep it on standby for almost 15 days and still get instant music playback on demand. The X1 2nd gen music device supports up to 256GB micro SD card and possesses an 1800 mAh battery for good amount of playback time.

All these features at just INR 7,499, is a great steal for fans of high-resolution music. Even for such a low price, this hi-res audio player supports five major lossless formats like FLAC, WAV, APE, ALAC, and WMA. Clearly, FiiO X1 2nd gen is one of the cheapest high-quality music player that provides high-resolution audio.

PonoPlayer Hi-Res Audio Player

The yellow PonoPlayer from PonoMusic is an expensive high-resolution music player at a price of INR 40,860 approximately (as available on Tanotis website). For such a high price, it does provide an endearing design, along with 64GB of storage space and support for micro SD card. PonoPlayer extends support for a variety of formats like AIFF, DSD, ALAC, FLAC, WAV, MP3 and AAC (unprotected). It consists of 1 replaceable lithium-ion battery with up to 8 hours of playback time (less than what FiiO X5 offers).

While the quality of sound delivered is unquestionable, along with some other features like balanced mode for hi-fi headphones and two stereo mini-jack outputs, the price sometimes seems like a big challenge for most music lovers. And this is especially when you have FiiO India website offering you a wide range of high-resolution and lossless music players at much lower costs.

Sony Walkman NWZ-A25

When it comes to music, Sony is never left far behind. The Sony Walkman NWZ-A25 music player provides high-resolution sound quality with the advantage of a battery life as long as 50 hours. Yes, you heard it right! If battery life is your only parameter for a high-resolution player, then, you need not look beyond this Sony portable music player.

It has 16GB internal memory and supports micro SD card of upto 128GB, making it possible for you to store around 144GB of high-resolution songs. You can get the best deal for this music player from Sony India website, at around INR 14,000. It makes use of S-Master HX digital amp to cut off noise and distortion across a wide range of frequencies. The other significant advantage is its lightweight - weighs only 66g.We have tried to list down the features of some amazing high-resolution audio players in India. Depending upon your requirements, you can choose to go with any one of these. The points that work in favor of FiiO India music players is that there are many options across different price ranges (X1 2nd gen, X5 3rd gen, and even some like X3 2nd gen which we haven't discussed here). You get the cheapest prices, for some of the best features, along with the possibility to get better deals for EX1 2nd gen in-ear monitors for a reliable music experience. And FiiO India devices do offer significantly high storage for the price that they charge. So, if you are investing for 2-3 years in a music player, then, perhaps, a FiiO device should suffice with good storage capabilities.

On the sound quality part, there is little to choose between these top players. The thing that works for Sony Walkman series is that they offer pretty high playtime (almost 50 hours) and are extremely light-weight. But, then, you pay a high price for less storage with Sony devices. We have highlighted the pros and cons of all the top portable high-resolution audio players. Hope it helps you to make a sound decision!

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